Donor cancels Islamic chair for Temple

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, January, 2008 | by Kathy Boccella Inquirer Staff Writer

Last spring, an Islamic group came to Temple University with an extremely generous offer: $1.5 million for an endowed chair in Islamic studies to honor religion professor Mahmoud Ayoub. But after months of talks, the deal fell apart when trustees and others raised concerns about the donor, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a nonprofit research organization that was included in a government probe into funding of suspected terrorists.

"They did not want a chair of Islamic studies funded by a Muslim organization," said Ayoub, a blind, 69-year-old Islamic and interreligious scholar who was to be the first occupant of the chair. "That is really a sad thing, because part of the chair's mandate was to encourage and engage in interfaith dialogue with Jews and...